387 - Alteration
by SoulGlitch
Summary: Mission City left some dark consequences. Some that were expected, others that no one could have predicted. Bay and Eight must face the dark results of Mission City... Meanwhile Jazz is still dealing with the lying aftermath of retuning back to his proper body and trying to calm his genuine fears for his two charges. *Sequel to 387- Three, Eight, Seven*
1. Chapter 1

**I was going to just continue this in 387 but my muse argued with me and So yep... another story. BnB readers don't get mad at me, I am woring on chapter 19... Cassie and Barricade are currently arguing about bondage and whatnot and I'm trying to reign them in so that I can keep the T rating... Trust me they aren't cooperating...**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.**

 **Word count is in at 1625**

 **Isty Bity Warning: Dr. Onri Fleur is a bit of a potty mouth... So Language...**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **~x~**

 **~Bay~**

 **~x~**

"I'm not sure this is such a great idea..." Bay muttered from over her coffee.

"Please Aunt Bay? Pretty please? They said they're going to the lake and I figured you could use some sun..."

"I hope you aren't hinting that I'm a vampire again." she glared at her somewhat ecstatic nephew.

"Nope! But you haven't really gotten out and do anything since we came home and besides, school starts next week and I haven't got to do anything fun..."

Bay sighed and took another sip of her coffee.

"Come on ya know it'll be fun." Jazz's deep voice whispered next to her ear, startling her and causing her to eject the hot coffee as she choked on it. Bay sputtered and glare at the dark skinned holoform smirking at her. Jazz chuckled before he continued on, "'Sides, Mikaela really wants ta see ya. Her and her sire."

Bay sighed and looked away from Jazz. _That_ was probably the _last_ thing she wanted to do... Johnathan 'Rho' Banes was the last person she wanted to see... Most likely because she knew that there was a surefire, one-way ticket to ruin the day...

"Please Bay? I'll Clean the gutters and the basement if we get to go!"

Bay sighed. "Fine go get your stuff together."

"YES!" Eight cheered as he ran out of the room.

"Don't forget your sunscreen!" Bay sighed as she folded up the newspaper.

"Cheer up lil lady it'll be fun." Jazz chuckled as he followed the boy.

 _I doubt that..._

 _ **Flashback**_

 _It had been a job for her. Work her way in through the illegal street races, find the ones stealing the cars, earn their trust, find the buyers..._

 _She had nearly skinned Basil alive when she had discovered her nephew in the racing circuit. As it was she had forced him off the road in one of the races, trashing his supped up mustang, and putting him into the hospital..._

 _Rho and Eta had been her initial contacts, and she had been shocked to learn that Rho had a little daughter that trailed behind him like a duckling. She had tried her hardest to convince Rho to get out of the business. Hell the night of the arrest she had warned him to just go home. That he needed to get out of there for Mikaela's sake at least... He hadn't listened..._

 _As the police began to surround the warehouse he sent the girl to run... and when it came to their own takedown.. the look of betrayal that he held when the officers gave their thanks and cooperation was enough to know that he would never forgive her..._

The phone ringing brought her out of her drifting memories. She frowned and answered the it. "Hello?"

"Finally! Do you realize how many Baxter's I've called woman?"

Bay blinked at the phone for several seconds before cautiously saying, "Onri?"

"Who else would be searching for you?"

Jazz and Eight reappeared laden down with beach stuff. "I would ask how you got this number but I'll just take a wild guess and say that you just opened a phone book."

"Look I know you're a couple hours away but I need your help Bay."

"Onri I'm sorry but-" despite knowing he couldn't see her, Bay shook her head as soon as Eight bolted out of the house. Jazz was watching her with a curious gaze.

"Look I need you to get here as soon as possible before it's too late. I'm not taking no for an answer so get your ass to my morgue ASAP. Speed if you must." The line went dead...

Jazz raised a brow as she sighed. "Everythin' okay?"

"I'm... not sure. That was one of my old contacts... I've a nasty feeling he's got a case for me... But I can't do it..."

"He wants to see ya now."

Bay sighed.

"Ah could take Eight out ta da picnic if ya need ta go. And Ah can apologize to Miks and her sire for ya."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. Catch ya later Bay."

"Thanks Jazz."

~x~

~x~

~x~

So an hour long drive later and she was here in the lower levels of the hospital heading for the morgue. Bay sighed as she made her way down through the bowels of Mission City Memorial. It had been several months since she had last been here. Something must have interested Onri to have prompted him to call her... Either that or he was shaken pretty badly by something gruesome... whatever it was it couldn't spoken over the phone judging by his tone... It had made her nervous... especially since he had called her... She really hoped it was just the first, and not the second...

She knocked on the door.

A harried looking man's head poked out of the door. "Yes? What do you want?"

"Um... I'm looking for Dr. Fluer?"

"He's bus- Ow!" the young man cried as a clipboard came down on his head. The door opened wide to reveal Onri standing behind the kid glaring.

"Interns. Absolutely useless." Onri said with a grin. "Come on in Baxter. Don't mind the kid, I'm still training him."

"I can see you're still terrorizing them." Bay mused as she followed him to his office in the back of the room. Bay's gaze widened as her eyes fell on the person waiting in there. Her friend lieutenant Daryl Carson was sitting in one of Onri's plushier chairs. The look on his face was anything but happy... he was tense as he sat there tapping his finger impatiently.

"Hey Carson long time no see."

"I see you're doing well." the black man said returning her smile with a weary one of his own. "I'm sorry to have not called under better circumstances."

Bay scoffed. Since when have you _not_ called me when it was for work?"

"When it was actually considered work. Everything the two of us are about to disclose with you is off the books confidential. In fact we have to make this quick because I don't know how much time we have before the feds show up to bury this under wraps."

"That serious huh?"

"Indeed." Onri said as he laid a folder in front of her. "There is something seriously going on here and we suspect that it has something with the terrorist attack. Now I know that this is going to sound fucking insane and trust me, both of us have been thinking that we were crazy... but I've been talking with several other morticians around the state and these are just a small compilation that the were able to leak to me before they were... coerced into silence."

"Okay..." Bay blinked.

"Bay, out of the 1496 people injured in the incident only 387 survived... And something is slowly either making them disappear or die."

Bay opened the folder and was flipping through the reports viewing the pictures of burned and lacerated flesh. Chest cavities completely singed beyond all comparison. She kept flipping through the pages,

"Most of the ones that we've actually found before the feds moved in had died of one of three things. Massive electrocution centralized and originating from their hearts, a poisoning of the blood that I have _never_ seen, and complete systems failure from a unknown mass slowly developing in their craniums. The last page is the most current of the victims, who unfortunately was torn to shreds."

Bay frowned as she flipped through the pages before she froze her eyes widening as they landed on the last page... "...what...?"

"The victim was complaining of head pain that had persisted for over a a three week period. The attending doctor had ordered a MRI after the CT scans came up inconclusive. As you can see it completely ripped the victim's... skeleton from her body... She bled out."

"Doc Flowerpower we've got incoming!" the intern poked his head into the office.

"You've got to go."

Bay snapped the file closed and shoved it into her jacket. She then promptly turned on the water works. Carson nodded as he led her out of the office and past the suits that were filing into the morgue.

"He was too young to die..." She wailed. The suits eyed her as Carson flashed his badge.

"Id." he hissed when one of them stepped towards them. The suit nodded in sympathy and let them escape.

As soon as they were in the elevator alone Carson breathed a sigh of relief. "Look... I know that you don't normally look into shit like this... But that last victim... It was Danielle."

"Your sister?" she blinked.

"We were all down there in that shit... I know that they say that the attack was nothing but something just tells me that there was more to it than they are telling us..."

Bay bit her lip. She knew the truth but she just couldn't tell him... "Daryl.."

"Onri managed to get the medical files from that week for you as well." Daryl held up a memory drive. "I think whatever is happening is some after effect of a biological weapon or other.. I need to find the cause and the connection to the victims that have died and those that are alive..." Carson winced as he rubbed his temples.

"Carson?"

"Just do me that favor please.."

"You're sick too aren't you?"

A sad smile graced his lips as the doors opened. More suits filed in while they squeezed their way out.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is short, fillerish but it is also fluffeh! Kinda... it's probably gonna be one of the few fluffy bits in the story... Anywho I hope it's up ta par for all of ya!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.**

 **Word count: A pathetic 817 *hides my face in shame and runs off to post BnB and a oneshot that's begging to be written* Tally Ho!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

~x~

~Eight~

~x~

Eight cheered when he sprang from Jazz's cabin and bolted for the lake. Jazz chuckled as his holoform stepped out and nodded to Ratchet as he made his way over to the medic.

"'Ey dere Ratch."

"I see you couldn't convince Bay to come once again."

Jazz shrugged. "Somethin' work related came up so she had ta back out at da last second." He said as he watched as Eight tackled Sam and Bee who were standing by the lakeside debating on who was going to be the first in the water. Jazz and Ratchet chuckled as Bee came back up screeching about the cold, while Sam puttereed as he recovered. Eight laughed at the older boy and his guardian before quickly swimming out of reach. "Ah see Miks didn't manage ta bring 'er dad."

"Parole officer wouldn't allow it."

"Shame. 'Ey 'Hide!" Jazz waved to the approching Topkick.

Ironhide pulled up and Will and his wife clambered out before Ironhide activated his holoform and joined the other two. The threesome vigilantly watched over their respective charges and their families as they had fun.

At some point later that day Eight had convinced Will to help him beat Sam and Bee in an odd game called Chicken. Needless to say, after seeing Will and the kid loose so many times, Jazz had had enough. He dived under the water and pulled the younger bot's feet out from under him, toppling Bee and Sam in one go and inciting a splash war.

It finally ended with the humans being winded and panting on the beach. Jazz grinned as he stood over Eight. "Ya gonna live shorty?"

"Well... concidering that we kicked Sam and Bee's butts yeah I'm good."

Jazz chuckled as he pulled the kid to his feet. Eight grinned broadly before his face fell slightly. "It's too bad Aunt Bay couldn't come..."

"Hm.. Well kiddo tha's part o bein' n adult. Ah'm sure she wanted ta come. Ain't dat right Ratch mah man?"

Ratchet grumbled a steady 'hmm' as he crossed his arms to glower at the humans, specifically Will and Sam. "Before the lot of you scatter I need to see you breifly in the back of my altmode."

A collective groan came from Sam, Mikaela, and Will, while Eight just grinned. "I'll go first." he said while the red haired holoform.

"Brave kid." Will said with a smirk, as Ratchet shot him a glare.

"It's not bravery. My mama taught me not to fight the doctors." Eight said as he walked backwards towards the dayglo yellow ambulance. "After all we knew better than to argue with her. Her punishments got... interesting." He gave the soldier a toothy grin as he turned around and jogged the rest of the way over to Ratchet.

Jazz chuckled and shook his head as the door snapped shut behind the boy. He had seen the photgraphs of sereval of Eight's carrier's unique punishments. He had to admit that they were indeed taylored to the interesting side...

"Do I even wanna know what he meant by that?"

"Nothin' bad. Just weird if da pictures are anythin' ta go by."

~x~

~Eight~

~x~

Eight dangled his legs over the stretcher swinging them back and forth. "Say Ratchet." he said quietly as the scan ran over him. "I don't think I ever got to thank you for trying to save Simon. Or for saving me." the eleven year old smimled weakly at the holoform as he physically inspected the scar on the boy's hands.

"It's my job. Now flex your hands so I can see the scar tisssue flex." Ratchet said as Eight flexed his hands. It may have only been three months since that fateful day in Mission City, but his hands had healed quite nicely... minus the ocassional twinge from where he over did things... which wasn't that often anymore. Ratchet made another noncomittal hm before he popped open his back door.

"You're good to go kid." Ratchet smiled at him. "Don't let Jazz encourage you to do anything stupid."

"'Ey! Ah 'eard dat!"

"You were meant to! And don't forget that I want you in my medbay _on time_ next week!" Ratchet growled at the Solstice's holoform. Jazz smirkd as he ushered the boy away from the medic's holoform.

Eight glanced around at the remaining company to notice that the others had bolted while Ratchet's attention was on him. Ratchet had just appparently notived as his engine flared to life and the ambulance sped off to track down it's prey.

"Those guys are doomed aren't they?"

"O course dey are. No one escapes da Hatchet for too long." Jazz chuckled. "Bay just texted ta say she's back home."

"Yippie." Eight said as he got into Jazz. "Do you think she's got dinner started? I'm hungry..."

"Ya just ate a lil while ago." Jazz shool his head with a smile.

"And? Ima growing boy."

"Younglin's." Jazz grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

**So... I was gonna post a one-shot featuring our ever so hated Galloway being pranked (as per the usual), But when I went to go write on it I couldn't decide who was gonna torture him... and I couldn't decide on which of my storyverse's I wanted to use... Oh well... it can always be something to tackle another day...**

 **Okay back to the serious stuff...**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers.**

 **Word count: ~ 950**

 **Many thanks to Yami- The Lord of Darkness for reviewing! Many thanks to the following for also Fave/following: CarCars2Fanatic, Jazzilyn Hall, Shimmer Mane, Skyress98, Zeng Xiao Long Sunstar Crystal, Stargazer360.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

~x~

~Bay~

~x~

Bay was staring at the wall. Onri had leaked forty-nine case files to her. Each one was anything but pretty, and the last... She shuddered. Now, in the nine years that she had been a private eye she had come across some gruesome things... But the grotesque metal skeleton before her... It screamed of something other worldly... Something.. Like _them._

Daryl on the other hand had given her a list of over two dozen people that had been on the injured list from the Mission City battle, each with a filed missing person's report. Her wall was divided between the dead and the lost... with the later most likely being deceased themselves as well...

As it was she was still currently sorting through the medical files linked strictly to the attack, sorting each file according to the type of injuries sustained, The ones she deemed most significant so far was the only thing she found linking each of the deceased and missing. Every person on the wall as of yet had had shrapnel removed from them at the hospital... So far it was only sixty eight files separated from the massive list of victims.

Bay sighed as she pulled off her reading glasses and rubbed her sore eyes. she'd been reading almost nonstop the instant she had gotten home. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was after seven. Jazz would be bringing Eight home soon. With a somewhat resigned sigh she pushed her chair back from her desk and stood up.

"I need coffee."

~x~

~Jazz~

~x~

"That was freaking awesome!" Eight cheered as he bounded into the kitchen, the smell of chili greeting him. "Aw sweet! Chili!"

"Well Ah'm glad ya had fun kid." Jazz said as his holoform smiled at Bay from her position at the table. "Hey dere Bay. You have fun today?"

"No." Bay said as she took another sip of the black coffee in front of her.

Eight blinked at her as he sat down at the island. "I thought you said no work in the kitchen."

"I was only making sure I didn't burn down the house while keeping dinner warm." Bay said as she polished off her cup before promptly pouring another one.

"Hitting da caffeine a lil hard there don' ya think?" Jazz noted with a frown.

"You would be too if you had seen the case I'm working on. Speaking of which, Eight you are forbidden to enter my office." Bay said as she worked on her new cup of joe. "And don't lay the curiosity card either. It is enough to make the Texas Chainsaw Massacre look like a Disney production."

The dark headed boy nodded. "Don't enter the office unless I want to permanently scar my psyche. Got it."

Satisfied with her nephews reply she polished of what had actually been her third cup and picked up her current file. "Be in bed by ten thirty."

"Yes Aunt Bay."

Bay made her way out of the kitchen. But she had sparked the curiosity of a certain saboteur...

~x~

~x~

~x~

It was after eleven, Jazz was staring at the door to Bay's office. Earlier he had caught the barest glimpse of the file in the woman's hand, none of the medical stuff jumping out at him until he had caught the words, 'Mission City' and the date...

Why was she looking into the aftermath of the battle?

She had closed the door behind her, locking it, most likely to deter Eight from going in. But since when had locks really stopped him? He made quick work of the lock before slipping in. There was paper all over the room, coating one of the walls that she had used to create a grid of victims. Causes of death and other injuries listed with bright sticky notes under each picture.

"It has to be here somewhere..." The woman grumbled as she stared at the wall. "I'm missing it. It's staring me in the damned face and I can't see it."

Jazz froze when his eyes came across a picture labeled 49. "Bay... What is this?"

The woman started before turning to give him a sour glare. "You could have at least knocked."

"Bay. What is _this._ " he walked over to poke picture 49.

"That _was_ my friend Daryl Carson's sister Danielle."

Jazz stared at the picture.

"I was gonna ask you after I pegged it out... But I think something that happened during Mission City that we don't know about... Something that the government has been keeping even from you. I've been scouring over these." she patted the stack of files. "And each and every person on the wall was a survivor of the attack."

"... how did you come by this information?"

"I've a friend that is a M.E. He had come across over ten of the cases on the wall. Including 49. The rest had been sent to him from other ME's around the state... Before they were silenced. The government is definitely keeping this under closed lips and I'm sure that they'd have fits if they knew that the information got leaked to me."

The dark skinned holoform frowned. "But why you?"

"Because I'm afraid that my friend Daryl is dying just like the rest of them. And Onri had the clues... he just needed someone to piece them together... But upon seeing number 49... I'm fairly certain that it is something of Cybertronian origins."

That pool of dread that as of the last few moths lurked in the back of Jazz's processor roared to life. Screeching it's insecurities about the boy upstairs and worrying if he'd end up like these poor souls...

"I'm calling Ratchet." Jazz said his voice tight.


	4. Chapter 4

**-.- Galloway's being an ass in BnB so... Yeah... another chapter to torture my other set of OC's. I think that I did mention that this fic is a tad darker than it's predecessor... So you were warned.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers... Though I did manage to finagle some dough and found a Trailbreaker in the Loyal Subjects series...**

 **Word count is in at 1130**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **~x~**

 **~Ratchet~**

 **~x~**

Ratchet frowned at the readings on the screen before him. None of it was good. There were three separate sets of readings on the screen, Sam's, Mikaela's, and Lennox's. He vented as he rubbed his chin plates. When the battle for the Allspark had ended, he had examined their human allies for radiation poisoning. Each of them had display traces of contamination from the Allspark. He had summarized that the Allspark's energy would eventually dissipate. It had not. If anything it had grown more pronounced on the three humans...

His comm link pinged bringing him from his work with a slight growl.

 _:Jazz you had better got a good reason to bother me.:_

 _:As good as it gets. I need you to get to the Baxter's ASAP.:_

 _:Why?:_

 _:I can't say over the comms.:_ Jazz said as he disconnected the link. Ratchet frowned as he glanced over his work for a second before something stopped his thought processes dead in their tracks. _Jazz wasn't using his accent..._

 _~x~_

~Eight~

~Dream Sequence~

~x~

 _"Do you think that dad will keep his promise about taking us to the Smithsonian?"_

 _"I don't know Si... You know he's been working hard on that case of his lately..." Marcus said as he toggled the controls to his RC Mustang._

 _Eight shook his head. "You know, I don't know why dad and Aunt Bay don't get along... Don't they basically work in the same line of work?"_

 _"Eight, Dad's a lawyer. Aunt Bay's a private detective. They're nothing alike." A jet's engine's screamed as it swooped low overhead. "Aw sweet an F-22!"_

 _"Don't you think that it's flying a little bit too low?" Basil frowned up at the jet.. The bird did another round of the city before it began firing missiles. Most of the boys gathered on the rooftop patio ran for the edge, to see the carnage in action. Their fathers had began yelling when more missiles went off and the air began to fill with smoke and ash..._

 _"Twins let's get-" His father was cut off as the roof tops all around them exploded..._

 _Ears ringing tuning out the chaos around as screams erupted around, flames encircled and parts of the building quivered underneath.. His blurry vision cleared to a haze as his eyes opened to look into the dazed eyes of his twin... a heavy dead weight weighed on top of the both of them. Pushing himself to his knees the weight rolled away and he found himself starring numbly at the corpse of his father, his neck bent at an odd angle..._

 _"-vius!" Simon was shaking him..._

"Eight!"

 _"Octavius!"_

"Eight wake up!"

Eight sat straight up in his bed with a gasp, his body trembling. Hands on his shoulders and knees grounded him and he found himself staring at the worried faces of Bay and Jazz's holoform.

"Are ya okay kid?" Jazz asked as Eight shuddered one last time.

"... I think..."

"Must have been some nightmare." Bay said as she released her grip on his shoulder. "Wanna talk about it?"

Eight sighed as he closed his eyes... he could still see his father's eyes staring emptily skywards, forevermore unseeing.. "No."

"Are ya sure?"

"Yeah..." He said as he put on a weak smile. "I don't really remember it anyways."

"Okay kiddo. But don't hesitate to bug me if you need to talk got it?" Bay said as she gave him a brief hug before standing to his feet. Jazz also stood giving him his trademark grin.

"Likewise Eight. Ya know where Ah'm at if ya need meh."

"Good night you two." he said cheerfully as the door closed behind his aunt and his guardian. As soon as it was closed the smile fell from his face and he pulled his knees to his chst as the tears he;d been holding back came to to forefront.

~x~

~Jazz~

~x~

Bay sighed as she poured herself yet another cup of coffee before tossing it back black.

"If ya aren't careful you'll drown yaself."

"I am being careful... I'm not drinking from the carafe after all. Though... at the rate I'm drinking this stuff..."

"Don't even think o' it femme." Jazz said as he sank into a chair on the other side of the desk. "So you want to tell me about yer system? 'Cause ya obviously havta have one if the way ya've got these stacked."

"Well... the ones on the wall are confirmed and documented cases that Onri was able to leak to me with the help of a cop buddy of mine. The rest of the files on my desk are from those of the still living survivors, but I've picked for keywords that I've noticed from the vics on the wall."

"Such as?"

"All of the victims on the wall had an undiagnosed chemical exposure and shrapnel removed when they were seen at the hospital."

"That is rather astute of you." Bay turned to find the medic's holoform standing in the doorway of the study.

"Thanks for knocking." Bay said as she crossed her arms as the medic walked in. His blue gaze taking stock of the stated of the room, before his eyes landed on the wall.

"What in the name of the Allspark..." He said as he stepped nearer to view the exact same picture that had sent up red flags for Jazz.

"That's why I called you over. It seems the human's government have been keeping some things from us."

Ratchet was staring over the rest of the medical information noted around the picture. "This was earlier today..."

"Yep. My friend Onri called me and insisted on me getting to his morgue quick this morning... I just barely beat the feds in. He had just enough time to shove the case files at me and shoved me back out the door. Tell me there's something seriously wrong here isn't there?"

Ratchet said nothing as he continued looking at the other case files. He eventually moved on to the small stack of folder on her desk that she had told Jazz about, the frown lines on his holoform's face deepening even more by the minute.

"Frag." he breathed as he stopped part way through the stack. "Just frag it all."

"Ratchet?" Jazz asked as he raised a brow.

"I saw to each and everyone of these people."

Bay blinked. "Wait you're Dr. Hatcher?"

Jazz snickered earning a glare from Ratchet. "Indeed. I attended to them for either energon poisoning... or..."

"Or?"

"It's the Allspark... When Sam shoved the Allspark into Megatron's spark chamber it fragmented and shattered... I insisted in removing the shards from those that were contaminated with it's energy."

"So then this..."

"Is her death nell if I had to surmise it... the remnant energy is converting them."

"Converting them into...?"

"Cybertronians."


	5. Chapter 5

**I kinda lost my groove when it comes to writing there for a while, RL stuff happened and it's been hard but I am still writing! Yay!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. Nope...**

 **Word count is in at 1420.**

 **Many thanks to Yami- The Lord of Darkness for reviewing! Many thanks to the following for also Fave/following: CarCars2Fanatic, Jazzilyn Hall, Shimmering Dawnstar, Skyress98, Zeng Xiao Long Sunstar Crystal, Stargazer360, Eunice Pacheo, Morgageb, Redder45, Sapphirestream, igeegeei, summer490, JayJayinMay, and Of-Light-And-Shadow.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **~x~**

 **~Bay~**

 **~x~**

"Wait. Come again? Tell me that you did not just say that." Bay blinked at Ratchet. The holoform's grave face said all she needed to confirm it. "How is that even possible?" Bay gaped at the medic.

"I can't be sure mind you, but the electrical burns on the chest cavities of victims 28, 31, 36, 19, and 44 lead me to believe that their bodies were developing sparks. Transitioning their hearts into a pure energy would certainly have caused this much damage. As for victims 4, 5, 7, 13, and 21 died from an unknown poisoning of their blood correct? You can actually see the tainted coloration in those pictures. Our processed energon is _blue._ Last time I checked red and blue make purple."

"But why would it take so long for this shit to happen? Surely if this was gonna happen why didn't it do so immediately?" Bay frowned.

"I do not know..." Ratchet sighed. "You said your friend leaked you this information?"

"Yeah."

"Is there anyway you can see if he'd willingly come out here?"

"Now?"

"Preferably."

Bay glanced at the clock. "Why not it's not like he ever sleeps anyways... He spends too much time with the dead to enjoy sleeping." She grumbled to herself as she pulled out her cell phone and wandered over to a corner. The two men began to talk in low tones.

 _"Mission City Memorial morgue. This is Dr. Murphy how may I help you?"_

"Hi, I'm trying to get a hold of Dr. Onri Fleur."

 _"I'm sorry but there's no one here by that name."_

Bay frowned. "I'm sorry perhaps you misheard me. I'm looking for my friend, Onri Fleur-"

 _"I'm sorry but there is no one by that name that works at this hospital."_

"What the hell are you talking about?!" she snapped loudly.

~x~

~Jazz~

~x~

"Jazz,"

"Tell meh Ratchet, what did Eight's scan's show you?"

"I haven't looked at them yet." the medic sighed as he stared over the files. "With the light of this knowledge, I would rather rescan him with a stronger in-depth scan."

"Ah noticed that Eight's file is not among these."

"I pulled both Eight's and Bay's medical files of that day from the system around the same time I pulled Sam's, Mikeala's and the soldier's files." Ratchet said quietly.

"Did Bay-"

"Bay was in the hospital from a ruptured spleen and head trauma."

"We're gonna havta tell her about-" Jazz was cut off by Bay shouting into her phone.

"What the hell are you talking about?! Onri has worked at that hospital for over the last ten years! How dare you bullshit me- Shit." She growled as the line disconnected. She kept up the cursing mantra as she stared at her phone. She quickly began to dial another number as she paced over the closet and opened the door.

"Is everythin' okay Bay?"

"No. Onri's been black bagged."

The two blinked at the term before they looked it up. "How can ya be so sure?"

"Besides the fact that they denied the fact that the head mortician never worked there? And the fact that the feds were all over that place like a airport hound on a suitcase full of crack? Yeah I have no clue. Damn it Carson pick up the damned phone!"

"Bay ya need to calm down."

"Right because the fuzz has been going behind your backs covering up something that is obviously right up the fringe science category, and one of the people that was working on collecting similar cases has gone missing right along with the rest of his colleagues... Shit." she growled before pressing redial.

"Bay." Jazz grabbed her shoulders. "Just stop. Stop and breathe. You are safe. I doubt that anything is gonna get by me and Ratch' okay? That's it breathe... That's mah girl."

The red haired femme shook her head and she sighed. "I'm sorry. I just don't like unknown elements. And this... I'm really worried for Carson."

"It'll be okay. Tomorrow mornin' me 'n ya can drive on down ta da city ta check up on your friend to make sure he's okay alrigh?"

"I promised Eight I'd take him shopping for school tomorrow. You know since he's hit his latest growing spurt." she sighed as she shut her phone.

Ratchet quickly volunteered. "I can do it."

Bay raised a brow. "You? Seriously I thought you had a base full of soldiers to terrorize."

"I'd love to take the youngling out for the day. Besides you really do need to find this 'Carson.' and convince him to come to the base."

Bay eyed the medic with a raised brow for a long moment before shrugging. "Sure I guess. Just make sure it's not that tattered crap they have for a style nowadays and we'll be okay. I'm going to try to get some sleep." she said as she made her way out of the room leaving the two cybertronians to sigh with relief the instant the door closed.

"Growing spurt?" Ratchet glared at Jazz.

"He's only grown a couple o inches. Mebbe six at the most, the net says tha's normal for a kid his age." Jazz shrugged. "How was Ah supposed ta know that it could be a bad thing? Slaggit Ratch, please tell me that this isn't going ta happen ta Eight."

"... I really don't know Jazz. I didn't have to remove any of the Allspark shards from Octavius. However, there is the problem of _your_ energon getting into his system.. Coupled with the highly concentrated level of Allspark Radiation... I really don't know. I'm going to take him to the base tomorrow after I take him 'shopping'." Ratchet sighed before he dismissed his holoform.

Jazz ran a hand down his face before dismissing his holoform as well.

~x~

~Meanwhile at the Witwicky Household~

~Sam~

~x~

Sam groaned as he rubbed his temples trying to ease the pressure of his headache. He kind of regretted not tell Ratchet that of the on and off headache that he had been having since Mission City... But surely if Autobot medic would have noticed something wrong he would have said something to him. _it's probably a tension headache..._ _After all it's not like we've told my folks about the bots yet... Though with the way Bee keeps sneaking in here my mom's gonna think that I'm swinging for both teams. Not that Bee's holoform ain't bad looking..._

Sam let loose a hiss as the pain settled right behind his eyes and grew to a stabbing pain. _Damn this headache... I wish it would just stop..._

"Sam?" Bee's english accented voice hissed from the window as the holoform climbed in. "Hey are you okay?"

Sam winced as Bee's hand was gently placed on his shoulder. "Never better." he smiled at the blonde. "Just working on my college applications."

"I thought you wanted to go to Princeton?"

"I do, but I gotta keep my options open and have back ups in case I get denied by the entrance board." Sam shrugged as he picked up his pen again. He set his jaw as he tried not to acknowledge the pain in front of Bee.

"I see." Bee said sitting down in his spare chair. They sat there in silence for several more minutes as Sam glared at the entry form trying to concentrate on the wording, his eyes blurring at the edges and threatening to tear up. Sam finally sighed in resentment and closed the packet and set it aside. His hands went back to rubbing his temples.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah." Sam said as he glanced at the clock noting the lateness of the hour. "I think I just need to catch some Z's This will probably be easier if I had a clearer head." Sam said as he pushed chair back and stood up.

Bee stared at him with concern in his blue eyes before simply nodding. "Well okay.. um... Good night Sam."

"Night Bee." Sam said as the holoform faded from existence. Closing his eyes he let out a silent sob and made his way into his bed. He collapsed into it's softness as his head protested the abuse, the pain ratcheting up another mark as it seared like hot coals centered in the back of his eyes.. He whimpered quietly into his pillow and prayed that it would be gone come morning...


End file.
